Coventry Rugby slumped to a fifth away defeat in six starts, when they fell to a 33-15 against Rosslyn Park.

As a result, Rowland Winter's team have slipped to sixth in the National One table with 13 of the 30 rounds complete, one point ahead of Park, but 30 behind runaway leaders Hartpury College.

The result leaves many unanswered questions for Cov, whose home form has been as good as their away-days have been poor.

The blue-and-whites threatened only briefly, during a post-interval spell when they increased the tempo on an artificial surface which should have ideally suited their preferred expansive approach, and claimed a one-point advantage.

But Rosslyn Park soon hit back, and while not outstanding, they made far fewer mistakes all round, and had they taken all their chances, the eventual winning margin would certainly have been greater.

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Cov's director of rugby Rowland Winter refused to blame late changes for the defeat.

"Our lack of accuracy in a number of areas cost us dearly in the end,’’ he commented. "Our failure to secure regular and consistent lineout ball, difficulties in sorting out early scrum problems, missed tackles, plus a high penalty count against us were all key factors which actually allowed us to make Park look a lot better than they really were at times’."

The afternoon did not begin well, with full back James Stokes having to pull out after the warm-up, with a recurrence of an ankle injury. Will Maisey moved off the bench to full back, with James Pritchard joining the replacements.

The home team dominated territory and possession in the opening stages during which it required some solid Cov defence to keep the line intact.

While Cov had isolated moments in an attacking sense, position was never held for any length of time, since poor attacking line outs or penalties conceded caused possession to be turned over. This enabled Rosslyn Park to ease into a six point advantage courtesy of two Harry Leonard penalties.

Several potential try-scoring opportunities went begging for Park as Cov just held them at bay, until three minutes before the break. Park's former Moseley skipper Andy Reay made a break down the middle, and although the visitors stemmed the initial danger, recycled possession eventually saw Reay storm over for an unconverted try.

Coventry really needed to respond before the break, and to their credit they succeeded. Initially Olly Povoas led the charge into the home 22, after which Cov kicked a penalty to the corner and five phases later a Corey Hircock pass sent Dan Rundle to the corner for a score which Will Maisey converted with a fine kick.

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Better followed, when the visitors eased in front for the first and only time soon after the restart. A superb piece of Owain James opportunism created the initial space, after which possession was moved left for replacement James Pritchard to steam over for an unconverted try.

The lead was to last just five minutes. Cov lost possession 40 metres out, after which Rosslyn Park worked the narrow side and some slick passing sent centre Andy Henderson over. Leonard landed an astounding conversion after the ball toppled over, and the quick-thinking fly half regathered to drop the goal.

At 18 -12 down, Coventry were now up against it. Will Maisey eased nerves with an easy penalty, but then as pressure built, a close-range driving maul saw Park skipper Hugo Ellis go over.

Cov remained in touch while only eight points adrift until the final minutes went totally Park’s way.

First Owain James was yellow carded following a high tackle, and Leonard slotted the penalty, then the home fly half added the extras to prop Ally Wade’s bonus-point try to take Park out of sight.